A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. MaasRelease Date: May 3rd 2016Publisher: BloomsburyAdd it to Goodreads

I want to quickly mention that I’ve procrastinated writing this review for A WHOLE YEAR. I am really shit when it comes to writing reviews about books I enjoy and I just put it off completely. I also want to mention this review contains LOTS OF SPOILERS!! I normally write spoiler free reviews, however this one is most certainly not one of those.

Okay, onto the actual review…

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with Sarah J Maas’ books. I for one enjoyed A Court of Thorns and Roses a lot more than Throne of Glass, and while I loved certain aspects of the ToG series, I also despise some of the sequels for various reasons. I originally went into A Court of Mist and Fury very hesitantly due to this love-hate relationship and due to my scattered thoughts in regards to her other sequels. Thankfully, I was not disappointed and ended up enjoying this installment even more than the first one!

In ACOTAR, I didn’t particularly care for Tamlin or Rhysand, I only cared about Feyre and what was happening to her. In ACOMAF, I completely fell in love with Rhysand as a character despite the shitty things he did in ACOTAR and I loved getting to know him as a character and I found him incredibly caring and selfless in addition to being arrogant and charming. Despite being utter trash for Feysand, I do have one huge glaring issue with Maas’ books that I need to point out. Sometimes, I really despise how she treats her characters. In order to get us to fall head over heels for a new love interest, she completely demonises the other without allowing any sort of in between feelings. Like, I get that we should get used to the new love interest, and it can be of the MC’s development etc etc, I really do understand that. However making one character be a complete piece of shit just to place another on the pedestal, kinda pisses me off. I just feel like Maas gives us no choice in who to ship and sometimes things feel unnaturally shoehorned in for the sake of this.
THANKFULLY, I didn’t give a shit about Tamlin in the first place (Chaol in ToG is A WHOLE OTHER STORY – my poor baby), however to this day, I still don’t 110% hate him. What Tamlin did was undeniably shitty, however I also won’t blindly hate his guts just because that’s what the narrative told me to do.

*ahem* MOVING ON.

The worldbuilding in ACOMAF was undeniably beautiful and was easily one of my favourite aspects of the novel (apart from the smut because I do like the occasional smutty scene). Delving into other areas of Prythian, imagining the wonder of the Night Court and learning about other more, despicable beings was an absolute joy and added so much depth to the story that I didn’t know I craved from the first one. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the worldbuilding in ACOTAR, however I found ACOMAF added so many more layers I didn’t realise I wanted to read about, until they were there.

I also loved the new characters introduced. The Inner Circle was an absolute joy to read about and each of them are also so distinctive to one another. Cassian alone is one of my favourite characters, I loved his arrogance, his banter with the others, how much he cares for EVERYBODY else, and I love his snarky attitude. Cassian is honestly a breath of fresh air despite seeming like another typical, arrogant fae. I also adore Amren, and Tarquin. Tarquin in particular because he is so different to the other characters we’ve come across, AND I MAY HAVE CRIED WHEN HE SENT THE BLOOD RUBIES. I just want the Summer Court and the Night Court to be friends so badly and Tarquin is totally underrated as a character.

The plot in ACOMAF is honestly, a little non-existent although that’s not to say that nothing happens. Plenty of things happen, and I still found it to be an incredibly entertaining and enthralling installment. There is essentially a bunch of filler type events that occur rather than a solid plotline, although as I said, I’m totally okay with this as I still found it SO MUCH FUN to read!

Overall, while it seems like I have a lot to complain about, I really did love this installment. I didn’t expect to enjoy it more than ACOTAR considering I found ACOTAR to be leagues above TOG in the first place, I am so incredibly glad this exceeded my expectations because I loved every second. (Also THAT ENDING UGH)

Earlier on in April, I decided it was time to reread A Court of Thorns and Roses, and A Court of Mist and Fury in preparation for the new novel, A Court of Wings and Fury which comes out very soon and I am SO excited for it!

After not being able to think of much else for a week afterward, I decided to make a theories video because I have SO MANY THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS about what might possibly happen in ACOWAR (tbh I am very scared and I’m not sure I’m going to be okay afterward??)

Obviously not all of these are going to happen and a lot of it is just wishful thinking because I want the very best for all of my faves ❤

Sorry this video is SO incredibly long, I’ve included time stamps for you below so you can select which parts you’d like to watch 🙂

I didn’t have the greatest reading month in March (I was hoping to read at least 4 books or so but instead I read TWO.) due to a couple of reasons, the main one being my mental health taking a bit of a dip! However, I did make my mental health and feeling reasonably better a top priority, and thankfully I am in a much better headspace now than I was a month ago!

As for my TBR, I dare say it’s a little ambitious, however I’m DEFINITELY in much more of a reading mood (I was pretty much in a reading slump last month as well) and there are SO MANY BOOKS I want to read. I look at my bookshelf, say “I’m going to read this one next” and then change my mind soon afterward because there are SO MANY BOOKS BUT SO LITTLE TIME

PS – Apologies for the large amount of fangirling and over the top emotion you’re about to witness:

What books did you read in March? Is there anything in particular you’re hoping to get to in April??

Today I am very excited to present The Secret Science of Magic to you! I have an exciting little interview with the author (who is #LoveOzYA AND has great taste in TV shows) as well as a review at the end!

Q: The title is such a perfect fit for the book and the characters, how did you come up with The Secret Science of Magic ?

I wanted a title that reflected the connection between my two main characters, these two mysterious, disparate people who by all accounts shouldn’t have anything in common, but of course, share a lot of commonalities! It was always supposed to be a working title, but in the end my publishers and I decided that nothing else was going to fit as well.

Q: I absolutely loved reading about Sophia as she had such a unique voice. Did Sophia’s genius character (see what I did there?) come to you in full? What was the process like in creating Sophia?

Thank you! Sophia actually had quite a long development time, and I think, out of all my characters so far, he voice was the trickiest to get right. I felt like I knew her right away, and had such a lot of affection for her, but I also knew that her character could possibly be a bit alienating for a reader, particularly one like myself whose maths knowledge is woeful! I also knew that she was incredibly warm and good-hearted, but that her interactions with people would probably be considered somewhat cold or insensitive. So she needed lots of redrafting, and juggling elements of her character to try and make her come across on the page as clear as she was in my head.

Q: Doctor Who and Penn and Teller: Fool Us are two of my favourite TV shows, so seeing them referenced by Sophia and Joshua was so much fun! What are some of your favourite shows/movies to watch?

Obviously I’m a Doctor Who fan (it’s always fun slipping my own fandoms in to my books, since it lets me watch TV for ‘research’). I have quite old-school TV tastes – The X Files and Buffy are two of my all-time faves. I’m really excited about the new Twin Peaks (even though the original series gave me nightmares as a kid), and the new season of Jessica Jones.

Q: You’re a children’s book editor during the day and you still manage to have three published books under your belt, impressive! Can you tell us a bit about your writing process?

I work part-time as an editor so I have a couple of full-time writing days a week, and I try and set myself a daily word goal – sometimes I manage to meet it within a couple of hours, and sometimes I’m banging my head against my desk long after the sun has set still trying to eek out words! It usually takes me a good four or five months for a first draft (though this book took a lot longer), and then another year or so of redrafting.

Q: Finally, do you have a favourite quote or scene from The Secret Science of Magic?

I think my favourite quote is from Dai Vernon, the legendary close-up magician and one of Joshua’s personal heroes – Be natural, and use your head.

Thank you so much for chatting and taking the time to answer these questions, Melissa! It’s been great 🙂

I received this book for free from Hardie Grant Egmont in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This is the story of a girl named Sophia and a boy named Joshua. Sophia is a child prodigy and a genius with debilitating social anxiety. She has no idea what she wants to do with her life once she finishes high school and becomes obsessed with Gregori Perelman, a recluse mathematician.

Although I am not a genius, nor was I a child prodigy, I found myself really being able to relate to Sophia because I had NO idea what I really wanted to do after school. I knew I wanted to go to uni, but was I going to be successful? Would I choose the right degree? What would happen to me if I hated it? Spoiler: I’m 24, have changed degrees twice, and have since learned that while I now love what I study, high school and uni is not the end of the world in any way (although, I am admittedly still a blundering mess of an adult).

Initially I wasn’t sure whether I would like Sophia as a character as she is incredibly different to read about in comparison to other teenagers in YA. However while she struggles with people/social situations in addition to living with social anxiety, she’s incredibly easy to grow attached to and I found myself constantly wanting the best for her. The depiction of Sophia’s social anxiety was incredibly well done and seeing the tensions rise between Sophia and her friends/family was incredibly painful and honestly made me feel incredibly sad for Sophia.

Joshua is a boy who also has no idea what to do with his life after high school, he’s intelligent, but he’s also obsessed with magic tricks. He is incredibly shy and complex, and I loved that he wasn’t your typical YA love interest. He is SO different from the usual mold of boyfriend you see in YA literature and it was incredibly refreshing to see! I may have also gotten a little bit excited about Joshua’s love for magic because my boyfriend is also obsessed with magic tricks (albeit, not to the extent that Joshua is, and he can’t DO the tricks but loves them all the same) and seeing all of the little references to different illusionists and magicians such as Penn & Teller made me SO FREAKING HAPPY???

The diversity in this novel is something I really want to make a point of, because it was so well done and wonderful to see as well! Sophia is an Australian with Sri Lankan descent and her best friend Elsie, is Indian. Seeing how their ethnicities were incorporated into the story and how they were written was so great!

Melissa Keil’s writing was wonderful and felt so incredibly authentic in regards to the dialogue and how she developed her cast of characters. While this is primarily a character driven novel, each of the events they experience, and the things they go through was so much fun (sometimes sad) to read about and the dialogue between various characters made me laugh out loud several times! There were geeky references in regards to science and maths as well as pop culture. Sophia’s favourite TV show is Doctor Who, and anyone who knows me knows how much I adore Doctor Who myself so seeing how much Sophia loved this show in addition to Joshua making references to magic shows, made me smile SO MUCH.

Overall, The Secret Science of Magic was written incredibly well and has a super unique and diverse cast of characters. Despite at first seeming like an “unlikeable character”, you can’t help falling in love with Sophia and Joshua and their beautifully developing relationship.

Make sure you check out all the other blogs onThe Secret Science of Magic blog tour! 🙂

Strange the Dreamer by Laini TaylorRelease Date: March 28th 2017Publisher: Hodder and StoughtonAdd it to Goodreads

I want to preface this review by saying I find it extraordinarily difficult to review anything by Laini Taylor in a coherent manner. From her 35 page story in Lips Touch: Three Times, to the entire Daughter of Smoke and Bone, I find everything she writes absolutely remarkable.

So Strange the Dreamer was everything I wanted it to be and MORE.

It’s no surprise to me that Laini Taylor’s writing was whimsical, lyrical and just plain beautiful. It borders on purple prose, however Laini Taylor’s writing isn’t just beautiful for the sake of being beautiful, every word means something. Every word and every sentence in her books feels magical and enhances the story and characters even more. Her prose is just one of the many reasons I adore her work so much, and why she is my favourite author.

Strange the Dreamer is the story of named Lazlo Strange who is a junior librarian but first and foremost, Lazlo Strange is a dreamer. When Lazlo was a boy the name of a mythical, lost city was wiped from his mind along with everybody else’s. The name of the lost city is on the tip of his tongue and he once knew the name of this city, but one day, everybody including Lazlo, can only refer to the city as “Weep”. Lazlo spends years of his life researching and finding all the information he can about the city and hopes to one day visit it himself. I won’t go into much more detail as I really believe that the less you know about this magical book going into it, the better.

The characters in this novel are wonderful and complex, the character growth with each of the main characters is beautiful to read, and there are so many instances of grey and lines blurred.
There is no simple answer when it comes to loving or hating a character in Strange the Dreamer, there are questions, positives, negatives, different motives and so much to the background of each character. It’s all just done in such a wonderful way and I found myself attached to many of the characters that I KNOW I am supposed to hate. Did that mean I liked them? Not necessarily. However I found attachment to, and questions about every single character, and I loved every second.

The worldbuilding was quite frankly, incredible. Much like her writing, I don’t expect anything less from Laini Taylor because her world building (especially combined with her beautiful prose) is some of the best I’ve ever read.

As always, Laini Taylor has drawn me into her rich world with beautifully complex characters and luscious writing causing me to stay up until 2.30am reading. I finished this book in about a day and loved every single second.

If you haven’t picked up this novel yet, please get off this review and go do so!

Have you read Strange the Dreamer yet? Are you planning to? What are your thoughts?

In February, I bought a couple of books and received a few from publishers and subscription boxes! (I also received some REALLY EXCITING audiobooks from a certain author, which absolutely made my month, and I still kinda can’t believe it?)